Monday, March 24, 2008

Pizza from the past

It is cold and rainy outside; also everything is closed for something the French state refers to as "Easter Monday."So until I venture back out for another interview, here is something I wrote in avignon several years ago:

i do not usually like to make comments about"the french" or "les americains" butnow i feel called to do solike this:in france those of us who havehad the privilegeof eating american pizzawe have become accustomed to the fact that the frenchhave a different understanding of what a pizzaought to be;for instance in america there is a sort ofgeneral agreement that one should notbe able to cut pizza with scissors, whereas here infrance, scissors are the tool of choice, even amongstprofessionals.

so granted we make a lot of jokes,as we snip ourselves off a slice;like, pizza delivery is easy in francebecause you can just put the pizzain an envelope and slide it under the door;or, one friend, when his pizza arrivedforty minutes late and cold and soggy as a washclothsomeone had left in the tub after a bathshouted at the delivery boy,"well for god's sake,why didnt you just fax it to me??"

you get the idea.

but, cosmopolitan as i may beeven i reeled upon disoveringwhile on my way to the organic supermarket

*an automatic pizza teller.*

yes that is right.it is constructed exactly like an atm for cash, exceptpainted bright red, with a wider slot."24 hours a day," this machine proudly proclaims, "onecan obtain a hot pizza, just by pressing a button!"i didn't try it, but it appears that you make yourselection of toppings, put in your credit card, andout slips a pizza, paper thin.

by the time you get it home, it is sure to have cooledand congealed enough for you to clip and enjoy.

3 comments:

i love your blog, miranda, particularly as i have noticed a pizza theme. i am a great lover of pizza and this is always what i miss most when abroad. i can assure you that the spanish can't make it either, and the british do ok, but not spectacular pizza, which costs like, $30 a pop. miss you!

Miranda, I also really enjoy your blog. I have to say when I was in London I noticed an abundance of pizza delivery places. As in, there were flyers shoved in my mail slot every day for pizza places all selling the same things. I think it was a racket. Like laundry soaps, they were all owned by the same company trying to corner the market.